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Tareth
Tareth is the nation inhabited by Elves and Men. Ruled by the High Elves, there long lives have ensured centuries of peace for the humans and wood elves that reside within her borders. High Elves According to the religion of the high elves, they were brought to this plane from the Feywild by Indamma, the god of the sun, and Ellura, the goddess of the moon, on a road made of stars. This cultural connection to the otherworldly has given them an air of importance and the attitudes of the high elves when interacting with those of other races is evidence of this. Not so much that they feel they are superior to other races, per se, but the high elves do believe themselves to be definitively *different* from the other races of the world. Half-elves tend to be looked down upon or ignored in elven society because of this, since they blur the lines that separate the high elves from the other races. Elven Culture The social structure of Tareth follows that of traditional elven society, even though there are other races than elves in the city-state. Traditionally, elven society is ruled by noble houses, whose duty it is to protect the common folk within their lands. Tareth is currently ruled by Lord Theren of House Caerdonel, who lives in the castle of Brightmoor at the center of the kingdom. Theren has several trueborn children at Brightmoor, as well as several half-elven “legitimates” (legitimate children born from a lord’s wives after their first) who live near the castle. Trueborn and Legitimates For distinction of “legitimate” vs “trueborn,” a trueborn is a child of a lord by their lady (their first wife), who can inherit the lands and title of the lord, whereas legitimates are children from a lord’s other wife/wives (since polygamy is not uncommon among elven nobility) who do not have those same privileges. Religion Elven society reveres the religion of The Graces, two of which have already been mentioned (Indamma and Ellura). Festivals are held at the solstices and equinoxes, as well as on the feast-days of the different deities. To the elves, their deities aren't as removed divines like the Valenzi; rather, they honor them as ancestral figures, old family members that are still held in recent memory. The Knight's Order of Indamma is known as the Dawn's Inquisition, these holy knights protect the realm in Indamma's name and seek truth and justice above all else. Some Wood Elves and druids within the region revere the Natural One and the Natural Twenty, practicing the faith known as the Natural Way. Oral Tradition The elves do not write books, in fact they look down on them and the humans that use them. Elves spend their long lives memorizing their histories and songs, passing stories down from one generation to the next. The religions have no holy texts, only songs and prayers that have been passed down over the centuries. It is very common for elves to remember stories that are very important to them, members of royal houses often memorize and recite the histories of their houses, bards sometimes search across the lands for specific "speakers" of certain tales so that they may learn them and keep the legacy alive. They speak of their gods and refer to them by their relation to the speaker. Nobility Not all of the noble houses of Tareth are high elven, although all tend to adhere to elven customs. Other high houses of Tareth include House Rethan (wood elven) of Woodkeep in the Glimmerwood that borders on the Spellscarred Lands, House Lorethil (high elven) of the Shining Vale in the lowlands, and House Denndon (human) of Sea’s Bastion on the peninsula of Kraken Point. Further, Lord Leonius Harthfel of the Briny Gate Isle rules the island upon the Salt Bay between the lands of Aebros and Tareth. War Encounters/Sessions Although the main army of the elves would be the Dawn's Inquisition, the additional elves from Tareth may have these troops join their cause: Category:Houses & Factions Category:Player Races Category:Resources